Drawer-guide.



No. 710,523. Patented not. 7, |902. .1. s cHAAn.

DRAWER GUIDE.

(Application led Dec. 3, 1901.)

(Ilo Model.)

uUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN SCHAAD, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

DRAWER-GUIDE. l

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,523, dated October 7, 1902.

Application filed December 3.1901. Serial lo. 84,534. (No modelI To f//Z/ whom, it may concern: l

Be it known that l, JOHN SCHAAD, a citizen of the Unit-ed States, residingat Knoxville, in the county of Knox and Stato of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drawer-Guides; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertaius to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specilication.

The object of my improvement is to provide the drawers of bureaus, desks, and similar pieces of furniture with antifriction devices for preventing the binding of the drawers while being opened or closed. It is the purpose of said devices to prevent the drawer from turning laterally out of parallel with the space in which the drawer normally rests and also to prevent the rear upper portion from binding when the drawer has been partially opened and the front part of the drawer bears downward and the rear portion is raised, the drawer resting pivotally uponthe front rail.

My invention is specially designed to afford simple and economical means forforming such guides.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical central section of a drawer and a drawercompartment embodying my improvement. Eig. 2 is a detail sectional elevation looking from the front toward the middle upper portion of the rear wall of the drawer. Fig. 3 is a plan of the construction shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section through the middle of Fig. 2, the guiderail andhorizontal roller being removed. Fig. 5 is a plan of a modification. Fig. isasectional elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 shows a modification.

Referring lirst to Fig. l, A is the drawer. B B are the horizontal front rails, located above and below the drawer-compartinent. C is one of the horizontal end rails upon which the drawer rests. D D are back rails, Iand D D are panels filling the spaces between the back rails D. Said rails D and panels D together form the rear wall of the drawer-compartment. Obviously said rear wall may be formed in any suitable manner, orit may be incomplete or altogether omitted, according to the nature of the article of furniture. Y

A' is the rear wall of the drawer. The upper ed ge of this is preferably lower than the upper edge of the front wall A2. At its middle the rear wall A has a transverse recess or notch d cut into its upper edge of suitable width and depth to receive the vertical roller` E, which is suitably journaled, as by a horizontal axle E'. Located directly over said roller E is a horizontal guide-rail F, secured in any suitable manner, as by the attachment of its ends to the adjacent front and back rails. The lowcr edge of said guide-rail almost touches said roller and is adapted to receive contact from the latter when the drawer is being pulled out or tilted upward at the rear. On each side of the guide-rail F a horizontal roller G is mounted upon the upper edge of the rear wall of the drawer, a suitable vertical post or axle G' extending centrally through each of said rollers. Said rollers are placedso near the adjacent faces as to cause engagement between said rollers and said faces when the drawer shifts laterally to a slight extent. Thus the usual binding of the drawer at its ends when moved out of parallel by moving one end in oroutin advance of the other end is prevented. The lateral movement of the drawer is prevented by said rollers, and, furthermore, binding on the guide-rail is prevented by the ready rotation of the roller G, which is brought into contact with said guiderail. The attachment of said guide-rail is .easily made by cutting it of proper length to extend across the space between the front and back rails. The attachment of said antifriction-rollers is simplyand economically accomplished. The notch al may be readily cut out of one board or simultaneously cut out of a number of boards clamped together.

Figs. 2 and 4 show a vertical mortise H, cut into the upper face of said rear wall at each side of the notch a' and opening into the latter and being deep enough to receive the axle E' of the roller E. A depression 7L is preferably rnade at the bottom of each mortise suitable for receiving the end of said axle, so that IOO the upper line of said axle will be on a level with the bottom of the mortise H. A block H is then fitted and glued into each mortise H, whereby the axle E' is secured at each end. A screw G is then extended through each roller G into the adjacent block H' at the proper distance from the guide-rail F to allow little or no space between said rollers and said guide-rail. Said rollers E and G may be made from ordinary hard wood, and

the screws used for axles for the rollers G may be ordinary wood-screws, while the shaft E may be a piece of ordinary metal wire.

In the modification illustrated by Figs. 5 and 6 only one horizontal roller (marked K in the modification) is used, and this is received into a channel J, formed in the lower face of the guide-rail J, said channel being just a little wider than the diameter of said roller. The vertical roller I, corresponding to the roller E of Fig. l, is mounted with its shaft I approximately at a level,with the upper edge of the rear wall A, and said roller I extends into the channel J of the guide-rail J a little higher than the upper face of the roller K in order that it may bear upward against the guide-rail J, while the roller K is too low to extend upward against said rail. The axle I of the roller I is let into the saw-cuts I2, formed into the upper edge of the wallA. Said axle may be secured in any suitable manner, as by staples I3, extending across said axle and into said Wall A. The horizontal roller K must be located forward or rearward of the rear wall A'. Fig. 5 shows a horizontal bracket L extending rearward from the upper edge 0f the rear Wall A and constituting a foundation for the screw k, which latter serves as an axle for said roller. When power is applied to the drawer tending to turn it laterally out of parallel, said roller K bears against one of the inner vertical faces of the channel J, and said face forms a track upon which said roller travels during the movement of the drawer. This construction is also simple and economical. The rollers K and I may be made of hard wood, and the bracket L may be a block of wood nailed or screwed to the rear wall A'.

It will be readily understood that the form shown in Fig. 2 may be modified, as shown in Fig. 7, by relatively shortening the blocks H and the mortises H, in which said blocks are located, and then securing the screws G' in the wall A at a short distance from said blocks.

Attention is directed to the fact that the vertical roller E or I is made effective b v being applied to the upper instead of the lower edge of the rear portion of the drawer, for in such position it bears against the lower face of the guide-rail as soon as the drawer is opened suiiiciently to cause it to Y tilt and raise the rear portion of the drawer. A similar roller placed at the lower edge of the rear portion of the drawer would be lifted away from its track by the tilting of the drawer.

I claim as my inventionl. In a drawer, a notch, a', formed at the middle of the upper edge of the rear wall of said drawer, mortises, H, at each side of said notch, a vertical roller located in said notch and having its axle resting in said mortises, and a block, H', filling each of said mortises, and a horizontal roller located above and at each side of said vertical roller and upon -said rear wall of the drawer, substantially as described.

2. In a drawer, a notch, a', formed at the middle of the upper edge of the rear wall of said drawer, mortises, H, at each side of said notch, a vertical roller located insaid notch and having its axle resting in said mortises, and blocks, H', filling each of said mortises, and a horizontal roller mounted upon each of said blocks, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 27th day of November, in the year 1901.

JOHN SCHAAD.

Vitnesses:

CYRUs KEHR, CARRIE R. IVY. 

